Was today only Saturday? Ugh. That means I have to put up with Lin for another whole day. He’s being annoying. Not at this particular moment, seeing as he’s sleeping and he actually went to the bedroom to do so … but in general, he’s being annoying.

What did I do today, you ask? Not much. Lin had to go to the gas station, so I tagged along and got that gallon of gas I needed for the Dart. That led to messing around with the Dart and trying to figure out what the problem with it is. It isn’t a lack of gas. I knew that as soon as I started pouring the gas into the tank and heard it hitting other gas already there. So I tried starting it. Turns over just fine. Won’t start. Next I opened the hood and checked all the fluids, since I had the thing open, might as well, right? They were all fine, though it needed a few cups of water to top off the radiator. Then I opened the air filter to look at the carb. That’s when it struck me that I wasn’t smelling the usual gasoline smell. Seeing as I had just tried several times to start it and it hadn’t started, there should have been quite a strong gas smell. There was none at all. Knowing there is gas in the car, and knowing that everything else is working right, the only thing the lack of a gas smell could mean is the gas isn’t getting to the carb. I stuck my finger down into it, and sure enough … bone dry.

Now at least I know where to start looking for the problem. It started getting dark, so I didn’t really want to get too into poking around in and under the car. I put a few teaspoons of gas in the carb, and tried starting it again. It roared up and then died as it sucked that little bit down. Then the battery said no more. You can only try starting it so many times before it drains the battery. Dammit. Tomorrow when I get up, I’m going to hook up the charger and dig out the mechanical manual. Basically, it could be the fuel filter, the fuel line, or the carb’s jets that are clogged with gunk from when I ran out of gas … or the fuel pump might be non-functioning or gunked up as well. While I am more than a little annoyed about it all, I am considering myself very lucky I made it home from running errands that day. It could have decided to not start again in the Hobby Lobby parking lot, and that would have sucked about 10,000 times worse than it not starting in my own driveway. At least it’s at home and parked in a location where it can be worked on without hassle … although we are going to have to push it back a few feet the next time Lin wants to get the lawn tractor out of the back yard. Perhaps that will inspire him to help me work on the car. I doubt it. I secretly thinks he likes it when I don’t have a car. Apparently he believes it gives him full reign to be an ass, because what am I going to do about it. Leave? On foot? Did I mention he’s being annoying?

I also started working on OrbiZart. I built something of a test site using iWeb, just to see how that would work out. It might work out really well. You can check it out if you want to, but be forewarned, there are some things broken, and most of the stuff there now is just placeholders and test “babble”. Nothing new, in other words.

And … Lin forced me to drive the truck around the block. It made me very nervous, but his new truck does seem pretty easy to drive. I guess I’ll get better at it (OK, I stalled it at a stop sign, sue me). I’ll probably do better at it when he isn’t sitting in the passenger seat barking orders at me and acting like I’d never driven anything before. My dad did that when he first taught me to drive too, and I hated it so much I pulled the car over about two blocks from the house and told him to get out, and then I drove off. I taught myself to drive just fine, thank you very much (in the Dart, no less). I don’t do well with people barking at me or sitting there fidgeting and acting nervous themselves … or making fun of me. I guess some evening this week I’ll take it to the craft store or some other nearby location ALONE. That’s the only way I am going to figure out for myself how sensitive the clutch is and when exactly I need to shift. These really aren’t things you can tell someone. They have to get the feel of it themselves. It’s not like I can’t drive a standard. I did, after all, drive his huge and nasty old work truck almost all the way to Waco to pick up Lin and Kenny when they had car trouble. Obviously, I am capable of doing it well enough.

Oh, and I made a real dinner, which is something of an oddity for weekend meals. Normally we have sandwiches or microwaveable stuff, but I was really hungry and wanted something really good. The end result was mushrooms, Brussels sprouts and fake crab sautéed in lemon-garlic butter and served on a bed of Alfredo pasta, as you can see in the photo above. I wish I had made more, because there aren’t any leftovers, and it would have made a great midnight snack. It was so rich, you could feel your arteries hardening with every bite.

Since tomorrow is likely going to be another long, hot, boring and annoying day, I suppose I should go to bed and get some rest. What I really feel like doing though is drawing, and maybe I’ll do just that … for a little while at least. Might be easier to go to sleep if my mind is relaxed. Also might help if I were at least a wee bit sleepy, which I am not at the moment. What I am is agitated about my car situation. It’s hard to sleep when you are agitated.